Hayrides were one of the attractions at the Breakfast on the Farm event at Black Locust Farm in Stanton Saturday. More than 2,000 adults and children came through, despite a brief thunderstorm passing through during the day. — Daily News/Mike Taylor

STANTON — It takes more than a little rain to put a damper on Breakfast on the Farm. The annual event came off without a hitch Saturday despite a thunderstorm that squalled through early in the day.

According to Jack Jeppesen, whose family owns Black Locust Farm in Stanton, where the breakfast was held, turnout was considerably better than organizers anticipated.

Breakfast on the Farm gave children from across West Michigan a chance to get up close and personal with the day-to-day operation of a large dairy farm business. — Daily News/Mike Taylor

“There were people already lined up when we opened at 9 a.m.,” Jeppesen said. “It didn’t really slow down until around noon.”

Volunteers working the event estimated more than 2,000 adults and children came throughout the day.

In addition to Jack Jeppesen, his brother Tom Jeppesen and their families, dozens of other volunteers — including State Senator Judy Emmons — helped make the breakfast a huge success.

Emmons, who grew up in an agricultural environment, boasted that the sausage served at the breakfast was made from the “whole hog,” rather than the parts left after commercial processing.

“You can tell the difference,” Emmons said.

Planning for Breakfast on the Farm has been ongoing for several months and involves dozens of volunteers. The event is intended to educate “city folk” on the particulars of life on a farm, specifically with regard to food production.

Many volunteer-manned exhibits were set up throughout the Jeppesen farm, several of them interactive in nature. A crowd favorite was an artificial udder, which allowed visitors the chance to experience the task of milking a cow without the danger of being inadvertently kicked or stepped on by a 1,000-pound bovine.

Seven-year-old Sarah Byron, who rode with her parents from Grand Haven to attend the breakfast, said she had never seen a cow up close before.

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How many volunteers does it take to serve breakfast on a farm? When you’re planning to feed over 2,000 visitors, it turns out it takes quite a few. It also takes a great deal of advance planning, cooperation and a bit of money. All those factors began to come together Monday evening at the Douglass Township Hall in Entrican, where Michigan State Extension Officer Nancy Thelen presented the first in a series of meetings that will end with this year’s area Breakfast on the Farm event.

You wouldn’t think making breakfast would be such a big deal. But when you’re doing it for well over 1,000 people, that can change in a hurry. Volunteers for this year’s Breakfast on the Farm, slated for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, have already distributed 1,389 tickets, and that number is expected to grow by the day of the event.

Gladys Knight Ingalls was born Feb. 28, 1919. Woodrow Wilson was president, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution authorizing prohibition had just been ratified and World War I was coming to an end. But Gladys grew up on a farm in the Stanton countryside, sheltered from much of the outside world. She was the second of six children born to Harrison and Edna Knight.